Beware of UNION PRODUCTIONS

On March 3 of 2006, we shot varicam interviews of Samuel L Jackson, Herbie Hancock, Lou Gosset JR and Kareem Abdul Jabar for a project titled "On the Shoulders of Giants" The Production company was called Union Productions. That name may be changed by the time they go back into production. The Producer is Deborah Morales with Iconomy. This is a documentery about basketball, jazz and the Harlem Renaissance. This is a pet project of Kareem Abdul Jabar's.
If you are contacted by them for work get your money up front.
Our invoices have still not been paid by Deborah Morales and she has not returned our phonecalls. It is our sincere belief that she does not intend to pay us for our labor or our equiptment rentals. We plan to seek legal action against Union Productions, Deborah and Kareem.

March 3rd to April 13th is not that much time... way too early to go legal. It often takes 60-90 days for me to get paid on some jobs. Most the time I try to get half up front but it doesnt always work that way...

On March 3 of 2006, we shot varicam interviews of Samuel L Jackson, Herbie Hancock, Lou Gosset JR and Kareem Abdul Jabar for a project titled "On the Shoulders of Giants" The Production company was called Union Productions. That name may be changed by the time they go back into production. The Producer is Deborah Morales with Iconomy. This is a documentery about basketball, jazz and the Harlem Renaissance. This is a pet project of Kareem Abdul Jabar's.If you are contacted by them for work get your money up front. Our invoices have still not been paid by Deborah Morales and she has not returned our phonecalls. It is our sincere belief that she does not intend to pay us for our labor or our equiptment rentals. We plan to seek legal action against Union Productions, Deborah and Kareem.

iI agree with AshG. If you worked with an out of town company you should at least get the money up front for the gear. And gamble on your day rate if you want to (I try to get at least my 10 hours up front and worry about the OT later.) But 30 days is a little soon to jump ugly with the production company there are many who work the you get paid when we get paid thing. And let the crew carry the financing for 90 days.Good luck.

iI agree with AshG. If you worked with an out of town company you should at least get the money up front for the gear. And gamble on your day rate if you want to (I try to get at least my 10 hours up front and worry about the OT later.) But 30 days is a little soon to jump ugly with the production company there are many who work the you get paid when we get paid thing. And let the crew carry the financing for 90 days.Good luck.

Maybe I'm just getting cranky in my old age but for out of the blue, out of town clients, it's payment in full at the end of the day or I hold the tapes. I make that clear up front and loose some jobs. Most clients understand completely. Those who don't are more likely to be troublesome and not worth the headache.

The only exception I sometimes make is if there's plenty of lead time to do a credit check. I ask for references and call them all. Make sure it's references from similar crew types. If you are a freelancer, a credit check from Bexel doesn't tell you much. And make sure you get references from states other than the home state of the producer. Some producers won't poop in their own sandbox but think nothing of doing just that when they are out of town.How's it going Don?

This was not an out of town client. They are based in Long Beach. I got the call the day before the shoot so there was no time to check thier credit. Besides, I was hired by a producer that I work with a lot who had been on payroll for several months with no problem. It was only after the first actual day of shooting that Deborah refused to pay people who had worked on the shoot. She even sent nasty emails to the producer who had worked so hard to make the shoot a success. Namely the audio mixer and the researcher. We have since resolved to matter of payment, but only after collectively threating to take her to court. I have posted this only as a warning to anyone who may be called to work on this project in the future.

This was not an out of town client. They are based in Long Beach. I got the call the day before the shoot so there was no time to check thier credit. Besides, I was hired by a producer that I work with a lot who had been on payroll for several months with no problem. It was only after the first actual day of shooting that Deborah refused to pay people who had worked on the shoot. She even sent nasty emails to the producer who had worked so hard to make the shoot a success. Namely the audio mixer and the researcher. We have since resolved to matter of payment, but only after collectively threating to take her to court. I have posted this only as a warning to anyone who may be called to work on this project in the future.

My post was a general comment about payment.Your situation seems quite strange since your friend had worked with them for some time on prepro. I would probably have walked right into that same situation.

One other item that could have been a big help and that's a deal memo with some very strong language supporting collection. Talk to a lawyer as to how to word your deal memo that creates a very strong hammer for collection.

You were paid by Union Productions for your work, unfortunately the quality of your work
was so poor we were not able to use it. I suggest you do not attack a production company who
got poor quality work from you which is what caused a delay in your payment. Anyone wishing to verify
payment to Mr. Jones or his quality of work for Union Productions may call email directly at
deborah@iconomy.com